Treloar’s welcomes HRH The Countess of Wessex

We were delighted to welcome our Royal Patron, HRH The Countess of Wessex to Treloar’s last week to visit the Forest School and the new key worker staff accommodation, Hope Court. We were so pleased The Countess also had the opportunity to view tributes to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth created by Treloar’s students. The Countess also joined in with Forest School activities with children from the primary School, and met College students taking part in our Supported Internship programme.

On arrival Her Royal Highness was received by HM Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson Esq. Her Royal Highness met members of the Treloar’s senior leadership team, before being introduced to the Head Boy, Logan, Head Girl, Alex and deputies Harrison and Evie.

Next The Countess spoke to Emily, Luke, Harriet and Natalie, Treloar College students who are undertaking the Supported Internship programme. This ground breaking programme offers students real life work experience for a year, designed to build confidence and independence skills for their future lives beyond Treloar’s.

Luke and Emily were delighted to show Her Royal Highness across campus to the Forest School, where Her Royal Highness met the team from Homes Estate Agents who have generously funded the Forest School.

Treloar’s Forest School has been created to provide opportunities for children to play and learn outside the classroom, get inquisitive, encourage connection and respect for nature through an inspirational and rich environment. Within the Forest School there is a Hide for birdwatching, a Mud Kitchen, an area where students can get out of their wheelchairs to lay-down and many other opportunities for our students to engage in nature. Not only is this great for their overall wellbeing but it provides an opportunity to learn emotional and social skills that can stay with them into adulthood and permeate into other areas of their life.

Her Royal Highness was guided by Primary lead Katherine Paddington, and watched the primary children taking part in various forest learning activities, in the bird hide and in the mud kitchen.

The next stage of the visit was for Her Royal Highness to visit Hope Court, our new key worker accommodation, a 42-bedroom block of single storey affordable and accessible accommodation on campus, which has just been completed for staff to move in ready for the new term in September 2022. The new accommodation features 5 flats for up to 8 staff. The flats are fully accessible to provide more opportunities for disabled people to work at Treloar’s. Her Royal Highness met the architects and project manager, and was shown round one of the flats by Treloar’s student support staff.

Finally The Countess had the opportunity to meet more of our students and local Council representatives in Pike Hall. Here Her Royal Highness viewed tributes created by students to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth before receiving a posy from Aurelia, one of our reception children.

The Countess of Wessex has been involved with Treloar’s over many years, including opening our Holybourne Campus, Sports Facilities, opening our specialist student accommodation and visiting us for many sporting occasions. Her Royal Highness is a wonderful ambassador for Treloar’s students, championing their abilities and ambitions for the future.
Thank you Your Royal Highness for all you do for the Treloar’s community.